really at this point does anything surprise you that the chimp says or does?...if it is fucking ignorant the criminal party backs it, if it is immoral the criminal party backs it, if it is illegal or represents a lie to the American people the criminal party backs it...it is time we call them what they are ....criminals.....
Posted by headxray at February 20, 2008 06:37 PM$2 billion a year for Vets education is $2 billion less for BushCo's war-profiteering buddies. And if you're not going to make a profit on the war, why the hell would you even start one.
Posted by Howd at February 20, 2008 06:41 PMWhen I got out of the army in 1973 I had the old, traditional GI Bill that came out of WWII. I finished my BA. In 1974 I was in San Francisco without work and ended up snaring a job at the VA hospital in town. Just about any vet with a decent discharge was eligible.
But then we had a draft and that's why most of us were in. I suspect that the major reason for getting rid of the draft was because when you fight an unpopular war people actually pay attention to it if they have to go fight it.
Posted by Bob In Pacifica at February 20, 2008 06:41 PMbob,
no question- if we had a draft, this war would already be over.
Posted by Turkana at February 20, 2008 06:58 PMThat's a shame. It would be what, a .05% tax on oil profits? And most of these kids deserve a good education - these are good kids overall! I vote for spending the money.
Posted by Moon at February 20, 2008 07:05 PMDon't worry. When Obama's president this legislation will be enacted and he will draw the troops out of Iraq.
Posted by Brian Bell at February 20, 2008 07:34 PMSpeaking of callous and extreme warmongerers, there may be a significant bump in the road to the White House for the annointed, John "Straight Talker" McCain.
The New York Times has a remarkable (and long suppressed) article about McCain and possibly, yet another much younger, blonde lobbyist. There is lots about his regrettable experience in the Keating 5 incident.
The story goes on incessantly about how poor John is SO honest, he just doesn't realize how appearances of conflict of interest could "look bad". Keith Olberman has featured the story and it appears to have long legs. Tonight, the McCain "camp" had this response,
“It is a shame that The New York Times has lowered its standards to engage in a hit-and-run smear campaign. John McCain has a 24-year record of serving our country with honor and integrity. He has never violated the public trust, never done favors for special interests or lobbyists, and he will not allow a smear campaign to distract from the issues at stake in this election.
“Americans are sick and tired of this kind of gutter politics, and there is nothing in this story to suggest that John McCain has ever violated the principles that have guided his career.”
There is unholy glee over at Big Orange. Whether this will be significant only time will tell. What is remarkable to me is McCain's utter confidence that NO ONE could doubt his honesty. No matter how many scandals he's involved in or how many times he's censured for his questionable judgement, HE'S John McCAIN!. What a Maroon!
Posted by DeminNewJ at February 20, 2008 07:36 PMWhen I was in, you had to pay for your GI Bill within the first 2 years of service. There are a lot of soldiers that pay for their GI Bill and then get killed. There is no way to transfer the GI Bill to a widow, sibling, parent, son or daughter. Another thing, there is a 10 year window on usage of the GI Bill, they should make it for life.
Posted by Seven of Six at February 20, 2008 07:41 PMThanks for that article, DeminNewJ. You know like I know like we will all know once that story's really published, Johnny McCain was SOOOOOO hitting that little blonde. It's funny, my wife and I were just talking about the Keating 5 over dinner tonight and couldn't remember whether or not McCain was one of them and had a direct role in it. It's amazing the "straight-talk" b.s. has flown. He's as crooked as they come, I don't care what legislation he's tried to come up with since then. For once, according to that article, Dubya was right about something -- McCain is a hypocrite guilty of "double talk," the sanctimonious bastard.
Posted by Brian Bell at February 20, 2008 08:32 PMThis is just another sorry variation of BushCo's "stop-loss" program, with the same goal of keeping our current troops conscripted, especially as recruitment levels of new troops dwindles.
The strange thing is that with all the billions of taxpayer dollars BushCo has thrown into enlistment and re-enlistment bonuses, why would BushCo balk at giving eligible U.S. citizens an incentive to enlist, especially with an educational "bonus" added into the mix, even enough to make some eligible U.S. citizens "throw the dice" in hopes that they don't "crap out" in one of BushCo's endless wars and aren't able to cash-in on this enhanced educational benefit.
The only explanation is that recruitment levels are much lower than BushCo is "officially" reporting, making the keeping of current troops that much more important. Thus, the "stop-loss" connection.
Of course, this could also be a sign that BushCo is still seriously considerating attacking Iran sometime this year and desn't believe they have the time to train any new recruits attracted by enhanced educational incentives, but at the same time want to keep ("stop-loss") current troops who might leave the military if the incentive of increased educational benefits after being discharged is extended.
Once again, the criminals in the Bush administration have placed our soldiers in a "no-win" situation, which kind of reminds me of my service time in the U.S. Air Force back during the early 1970s, when it became quite apparent to almost everyone, including many in the U.S. military, that there was no way in hell we'd ever win the Vietnam War, or at least "win" in any recognizable, democratic fashion. Which is exactly what we're experiencing in Iraq today. With our troops on the ground there in the middle of the same mess.
Posted by The Oracle at February 20, 2008 11:38 PMIt's not about money.
" The Pentagon says that if you offer more realistic college benefits, too many troops might decide to leave at the end of their enlistments and take advantage of it. And that, they say, would only make it even harder to find and enlist enough recruits to man our wars."
The article is clear that it's about keeping the boots on the ground. Soldiers are a commodity. They are quasi slaves, but most of the military is very Republican. Let's no lose sight of that. I'm not saying that it's right, but those who are most affected by a policy should not act against their best interest. Americans have been voting against their best interest since FDR. Why stop now.
Posted by Prabhata at February 21, 2008 01:13 AM"... the government would resume paying full college tuition for these veterans for a period linked to their times in uniform, but for no more than 36 months or four academic years. Every eligible college veteran also would receive a check for $1,000 a month to help cover living expenses."--Turkana --
Umm... I may have misunderstood that paragraph butthe GIBill already caps payouts at 36 months (at 12 credit hours a semester). Thats not anything new, its in every VA GIBill notification I get in the mail at the beginning of every semester.
The extra $1,000 for living expenses would be pretty nice. I could afford books AND car insurance in the same month !!
"When I was in, you had to pay for your GI Bill within the first 2 years of service. There are a lot of soldiers that pay for their GI Bill and then get killed. There is no way to transfer the GI Bill to a widow, sibling, parent, son or daughter. Another thing, there is a 10 year window on usage of the GI Bill, they should make it for life. "--Seven of Six--
I enlisted in 2000 (managed to avoide stop loss in 2004). If you sign up for the GIBill, $100 a month is automatically deducted from your pay for the first 12 months you serve (this includes time in Basic and AIT.) It is possible to opt out of the GIBill, I served with a guy that had signed a waiver when he enlisted saying that he didn't want the GIBill (he wanted the extra $1,200 that year to buy a car or something.) After we got back from Iraq he talked to some people in the post Education Center, he wanted to see if he could pay the $1,200 and get signed up for the GIBill. Unfortunately he was told that because he signed the waiver that he was no longer eligible for the GIBill. Personally, I think that should be changed.
On a somewhat more positive note, there are the Top-up and Kickers. If you sweet talk your recruiter maybe you will get the checkbox initialled on your enlistment paperwork, it increases the GIBill's payouts (by how much I'm not sure.) The Topup was something I heard about right as I was ETS'ing. Its the same thing as the Kicker but you can sign up anytime by going to the post Education Center and paying up to $600, which in turn increases the payouts. I don't think its a bad deal (except for having to pay extra into what you already are supposed to get.) On a less positive note, I haven't found anything that specifically states how much of an increase over the basic GIBill entitlement these extra benefits give. I DO know that I get paid almost twice as much as the basic entitlement for the number of hours that I go to school a semester but I've got both the Kicker and the Top-up and nothing the VA sends me about my GIBill entitlement going into specifics about how they affect the payouts.
There are a few snags with how the GIBill works that can make things a bit uncomfortable. You have to wait until the school's VA Rep snail mails notification of your current enrolment to the local VA Processing center. This works fine until the VA Rep takes his sweet assed time to send in your paperwork (without telling you by the way--I'm still a bit pissed at that) and you wind up having to make two tuition payments before the VA knows you are in school and pays you.
"When Obama's president this legislation will be enacted and he will draw the troops out of Iraq."
I would not recommend that you stop breathing while you wait for him to do that.
People, you HAVE to pay attention to more than the pretty sound bites and marketing literature. Stop basing world-shattering decisions on superficial, quick-and-easy information. Dig, people, DIG. Find out what ELSE your candidates have done and said.
Jeeeeez! It's really scary to see how "democracy" works in this country!
Posted by Shirin at February 21, 2008 09:15 AMShirin, unfortunately there is no prerequisite for the citizens in a democracy to make intelligent decisions. If there is anything that my halfasses attention to politics has proven to me, its that "stupid" is just as capable of filling in a dot with a #2 pencil or poking at a computer screen as "other than stupid."
Posted by Jolly Sapper at February 21, 2008 12:03 PM